melonite a barrel ?

W

WG300

Regular
Rating - 100%
7   0   1
as anyone ever experienced this treatment to a barrel ? If so, who did the job and how was the result ?

thanks

JL
 
We used to offer this process/ It created more problems than it solved. I know there are outfits in the USA that do this with great success, but so far no-one in Alberta seems to be able to provide the desired results.
My advice is don't do it.
 
no, its a heat tratment that bring the surface of a given component to any where between 65 to 82 RC. In a caliber that is hard on barrel, there is a potential gain in barrel life. As the inside of the barrel is more slipery as well, you will loose velocity with a same load. This apply to the same principal of a dry lubricant like HBN or moly.

As for myself, i'm more looking in extended barrel life.
 
WG300, ATRS is correct...

Melonite, and Nu-Tride are proprietory names and process for what is generically called Salt Bath nitriding AND it involves a fair amount of heat.

does it hardern the surface of steel? Yes, very much so... years and years of steel parts that have had success being surface hardened.

Will it work for barrels? The jury is still out .. even with the process offered in the US.

There are no shortage of those that say they had success... and many others that said no joy. I would suggest you give Metcor a call and see if they will even do barrels and then if they have any experience and results.

It would sure be nice to "seal" a good performing barrel but if there is a high risk of destroying it....???

Jerry
 
Jerry, i was answering cyphery not ATRS :)

I already called Metcor and they can do barrel but for sure, cant provide a reliable input on results !
 
a lot of variation in the pricing. Make me wonder if there is any difference in the procedure from one supplier to the other !!?? Its from 100$ to....300.00$ You can have a barrel action made for 150.00$.
 
Does the process add stock? What is the depth penetration of the hardness? Would it be possible to treat a barrel, then hone or lap it? Then you would have the hardness and the precision...
 
I had a Melonited barrel for about 1000 rounds, out of a 338 Lapua Imp.
It took about 500 rounds to get it to shoot, pressure like you would not believe, some days it would shoot, others I would bang my head against a tree to figure what was going on.
It blew though expensive Lapua brass in ten to eleven firings, it was the best 8 months of my life.
The only saving grace was ATRS helped me every time.

New Lilja barrel, problem solved, 110.9 grains of US869, gun shoots in the .3s

Clint
 
the process is very cheap. Last barrel i did was a few dollars when batched, but the cost is in the work to get it stripped.

Is metcor still offering it? Last I checked they closed the line in ft erie due to enviro regs

You may want to look as gas nitriding which is a lower temp
 
bobdbldr said:
So you would want to do this to a barrel after it is broke in to maintain your best accuracy!?
Click to expand...

Not with salt bath as ANY contaminants such as copper and carbon will destroy the baths integrity.
No sure on gas nitriding. I know a few guys who have had this process done, again mixed reviews, but I know virtually nothing about the process.
 
yes, you need to trat the barrel once its broke in. I confirm as well for the depth, from 0.020 to 0.040. Metcor is still offering the service close to Montreal, but they are expensive. Again, if i was 100% sure that i will gain something, i would do it. My bet is that, if the top F-Open guys are not already using such treated barrel, there is a good reason for it.
 
CanAm said:
no dim changes, depthh is about 20-40 thou
Click to expand...

This is not necessarily true. My company uses both salt and gas nitriding in steam turbines and we often get dimension changes. The failure rate on lift rods is about 20% (maintaining dimensions) and that is after a lot of practice. It is often used on more exotic metals than barrels though. I suspect our allowable tolerances are larger than what I would want to see inside a barrel also. There is also no easy way to see if the process worked on the inside of a barrel. Our process is mostly on external surfaces or on internal surfaces 1 1/2" or bigger.
 
Dumptruck said:
This is not necessarily true. My company uses both salt and gas nitriding in steam turbines and we often get dimension changes. The failure rate on lift rods is about 20% (maintaining dimensions) and that is after a lot of practice. It is often used on more exotic metals than barrels though. I suspect our allowable tolerances are larger than what I would want to see inside a barrel also. There is also no easy way to see if the process worked on the inside of a barrel. Our process is mostly on external surfaces or on internal surfaces 1 1/2" or bigger.
Click to expand...


Or you need jigging to ensure flow through and evenness. Like chroming a barrel requires tensioned chrome wire and jigging including pumped electrolyte to throw evenly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom